Damien
Burke samples Duxford's biggest airshow of the year, held over 4/5
September

Duxford's
airshows have in recent years been accused of settling into a bit of a
rut, trotting out similar line-ups and getting a fair bit of flak for
it as a result. However last September's show bucked the trend with a
show-stopping and reportedly awe-inspiring performance from a South African
Airways 747. I missed it, being busy on honeymoon (you see, even I have
my limits!).

So when this
year's September show included a 757 in the programme, I thought this
was going to be a show to make an effort for. Add that to a much-hyped
flypast of the BBMF Lancaster and a Tornado each from 9 and 617 Squadrons
(as part of a 'Sinking the Tirpitz' commemoration), sunny weather and
a collection of the usual favourites, and it looked like Duxford was on
a winner.

Sunny
delights

Well, let's
get the disappointments out of the way first, shall we? The 757 sadly
did not live up to the performance put on by the 747 last year, and instead
provided a graceful and fairly short display consisting of an opening
topside pass, a dirty pass with gear and flaps down and a climbing pass
to depart (each pass described as 'amazing' or suchlike by the commentator,
who really should spend an afternoon at Heathrow to get it out of his
system!). It is great to see an airliner at an airshow, and DHL are to
be applauded for providing us with the opportunity, it's just a crying
shame that our expectations had been pushed so high by the 747 routine
a year before.

Next
up the Lancaster and Tornado formation turned out not to be a formation
at all. First the BBMF Lanc flew past, then the two Tornados followed,
separated by the entire length of the airfield. From comments in the crowd
this was a major disappointment - hopefully the assembled veterans found
it an acceptable commemoration of their efforts to sink Germany's most
formidable and long-lived battleship.

A few cancellations
had hit the programme - the RNHF Sea Hawk, still grounded by the lack
of an ejection seat harness (one wonders who has the job of sewing it
together because we've been getting this reason all year now); HHA's Hunter
pair (one was present at Cambridge but mysteriously not present at the
show); RAF Hercules (operational commitments no doubt); Lysander (grounded
at Old Warden with a technical problem) and most sadly of all Air Atlantique's
Meteor - cancelled because Flt Lt Paul Morris, their Meteor display pilot,
was killed in a Canberra accident at RAF Marham on the Thursday night
before the show.

Sink
the Tirpitz!

Launched
on 1 April 1939, the Tirpitz was attacked on many occasions from
1940 to 1944, with most raids providing no hits whatsoever, often
at significant cost to the unfortunate aircrews involved. The ship's
own forays into combat were not particularly conclusive, and it
spent more time under refit and in exercises than it did carrying
out its intended task. However despite this the huge threat it posed
could not be ignored.

It
was not until 1943 that significant damage was caused to the Tirpitz
- by British midget submarines X5, X6 and X7 in September 1943. While
all the submarines were destroyed, the mines they placed below the
ship damaged it enough to put it out of commission until March 1944.
A succession of raids from the Russians and the Fleet Air Arm followed
to little effect, until on 15 September 1944 when a single 12,000lb
'Tallboy' bomb from a Lancaster of either 9 or 617 Squadron hit her
on the bow, putting her out of action. Further attacks followed, but
it was not until 12 November 1944 that another joint 9/617 Squadron
raid finally hit the ship with three more 'Tallboy' bombs, capsizing
her and ending the battle to sink the Tirpitz.

Duxford's
Hangar 3 includes some particularly relevant exhibits - a section
of belt armour from the Tirpitz, the thickness of which shows just
one of the reasons why it was so hard to kill, and a section of the
midget submarine X7, used in the 1943 raid. The bow section was raised
from the sea in 1976; the remainder had been already recovered by
the Germans during the war.

The
story, of course, did not end there. After the war a Norwegian company
scrapped the remains of the ship and the Royal Norwegian Air Force
gifted a Tirpitz bulkhead decorated with a mural of the ship to Bomber
Command, to be displayed at RAF Binbrook (where both 9 and 617 were
based). 9 Squadron quickly removed it to their own building, thus
kicking off a succession of thefts and counter-thefts that went on
until 2002 when the bulkhead was finally placed in the RAF Museum.

So what did
we get to see then? Well, a four-ship of the Utterly Butterly mob, egged
on by a lunatic commentator; a hang-glider flown by Judy Leden, a world
record-holding pilot (she's crossed the English Channel in a hang-glider,
and holds the world altitude record of 41,307 feet in one) - not that
you could really tell it was anything special without the commentary -
sorry, but a small hang-glider trailing some smoke while spiralling down
over an airfield
isn't the most exciting of display acts. More impressively, the usual
noise and power from the RAF Jaguar and Tornado GR4 - somewhat less noise
and less power from the RAF Hawk (which also formated with Carolyn Grace's
Spitfire for one pass only).

On the ground,
military hardware was also in evidence - a visit from an Italian P.180
Avanti and a Belgian SF.260 was a welcome return to the days when every
airshow had at least one foreign military visitor. A Royal Navy Commando
helicopter had been pressed into use to ferry the Tornado and Jaguar crews
to and from Cambridge, so was a nice addition to the flying for those
down by the Superhangar end. The fiasco of Duxford's runway resurfacing
means that reheated jets still aren't welcome hence the use of Cambridge,
though limited movements from more genteel types such as the Hawk are
okay.

The 'Rasta
Cat' made what was, I think, her first airshow appearance actually at
Duxford. As it's her home base, it's a bit bizarre that it's taken so
long for them to book her! Other Duxford stalwarts provided the majority
of the display line-up from the four 'Cats' - Tigercat, Bearcat, Hellcat,
Wildcat (putting on a performance that rivalled the Breitling Fighters
routine of last year) through 'Sally B' to the T-33 and F-86 pair. Throw
in the BBMF (the Spitfire opposition routine in evidence at this show
- and damn it's good), an RAF Nimrod providing its usual dose of smoke
and noise and there remains only a few more items to mention. Two
are helicopters - one is small and grey, the other is big and green. Now
this was another shame I thought - the RN Lynx routine is brilliantly
flown but when it's put up against the RAF Chinook, which is seemingly
flown by crazy people with a death wish, there's no contest. The crazy
people will win every time.

Rounding
up the line-up was Kennet Aviation's beautiful Mk.1 Jet Provost (though
rather lost in Duxford's fairly large arena - let's see it at Old Warden!),
a welcome and rare appearance from a pair of based Harvards, and one of
the last expected appearances from B-25 'Grumpy' (off to a new owner at
North Weald soon, but hopefully staying in the UK for a year or so). Sunday's
show was more of the same, with a few items removed from the programme
to make way for the Red Arrows - and a far larger crowd as a result of
the Sunday-only appearance of the Reds.

As
a show it all held together nicely with no particularly jarring breaks
in the action, and the commentator error quotient was no worse than usual
(given the blazing sunshine and inevitably fried craniums I can forgive
them this time) yet the worryingly thin crowd on Saturday gave a hint
that all is not well at Duxford. I cannot recall a more sparsely attended
show - especially on such a gloriously sunny weekend. The price is climbing
steadily higher at most shows, and Duxford is no exception - I heard a
lot of complaints that the flightline walk was particularly poor value
at this show, with several based aircraft dragged out onto the grass to
make up numbers. Despite a beautiful day and lots of great flying, I too
came away vaguely dissatisfied, though much of that was no doubt due to
the disappointment of the 757 routine which I had been looking forward
to all day.

There is
now some seriously stiff competition for Duxford to deal with - locally,
both Little Gransden and Old Warden put on absolutely excellent shows,
and further afield we have had cheaper events with impressive line-ups
(e.g. Woodchurch and Chailey). Clearly the Reds will drag in Joe Public
regardless, but in their absence it does look like the Duxford organisers
need to look a little harder at what will pull in the crowds - and more
importantly, keep pulling them in each time. It does appear that the hardened
enthusiast has been drifting away from Duxford for some time, and such
a historic and lively venue deserves better.